Photographic processing chemicals in liquid form which have been conventionally employed have problems such that stain due to splashing is marked in their preparation, they are very heavy, substantial storage space is needed and the empty bottles are voluminous; and countermeasures to these problems are desired.
On the other hand, solid processing compositions in which a conventionally employed concentrated solution is solidified, overcome the problems described above. Thus, the solidification results in light weight and compactness, leading to not only improved working property in preparing processing solutions including handling characteristics and storage space, but also reduced staining due to, for example, spilling at the time of preparing the processing solutions and spattering at the time a bottle is broken during transportation and the solution runs out, so that it becomes a very easily handled processing chemicals for the user.
Since the solid processing composition contains little moisture, reactivity between components decreases, leading to improved storage stability, as compared to conventionally employed concentrated liquids. Further, when processing at a low replenishing rate, it is necessary to increase some components of the concentrated liquid but an increase thereof must be limited due to precipitation of some of the components. To the contrary, the solid processing composition, which is unaffected by precipitation, is useful in processing at a low replenishing rate.
The solid processing composition contains characteristic materials such as a binder necessary for solidification. The inventor studied photographic processing performance in using solid processing compositions, in which uneven developing (uneven density) and uneven drying (unevenness observed by reflection) are liable to be produced. The unevenness often occurs particularly when ingredients leached out of processed materials accumulate in the solution during the running process, or when the solution in a processing bath is allowed to partially evaporate and becomes concentrated in the running process over a long period of time. Occurrence of the unevenness is dependent on the kind of photographic materials (such as hardening property, developability, fixability and the binder content), but it is supposed that when transported through the racks of an automatic processor, the photographic material slips on the rollers and is scratched or causes oscillation during transportation, resulting in uneven developing, in which unevenness tends to increase in proportion to the slipping extent.
With regard to the uneven developing and uneven drying, the inventor of the present invention noted supports used in photographic materials, and as a result of his study, the use of a support comprised of a polyester mainly comprised of naphthalene-di-carboxylic acid and ethylene glycol, led to surprisingly and unexpectedly improved results in the unevenness.